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For clients of twice-graduate Paige Roy, imagination is truly at their fingertips. Since launching off from both Blanche Macdonald’s Global Makeup and Nail Parlour programs, Paige has been busy brushing out incredible creatives which have seen nails metamorphosed into monarch butterflies, dragon’s treasure, beetle shells and lightning storms (to name a few).

With a social media following that is on the up and up, a position as Nail Technician and Makeup Artist in one of Winnipeg’s hottest salons, Cutting Loose Hair Design, and exciting makeup adventures on the horizon, the young lady from the small town of Victoria Beach, Manitoba is already changing Winnipeg’s perception of what’s possible.

“I really like when I’m taking off my clients’ nail work, and they say ‘Oh! It doesn’t hurt! My nails still look good!’“ she laughs. “I say ‘Yeah! It’s because I do it properly!’ It’s nice when people realize that I’m doing things the right way and taking my time to do it well. I’ve got a lot of girls who are used to going to other shops who want to be out in 20 minutes. Once they sit down I tell that they’ll be here for a while!”

Paige is now the go-to girl for her city’s event makeup and Winnipeg nail art brilliance, but it took her traveling across the country to Canada’s Top Makeup and Nail School to get there. Piqued by the artistry she encountered during her stint modeling, Paige made the leap to the other side of the brush and began her search for the best place to make most of her time away from home, leading her to take on a pair of courses at the Blanche Macdonald Centre.

“I saw that there was a Global Makeup program and I knew I wanted to do that. The Nail Parlour course looked amazing as well, and when I found out that Makeup was only three days a week, I knew that I could fit it in!

I wanted to do as much as I could while I was there to get the experience in. It’s true that you get out of Blanche Macdonald what you put into it.

“I thought it would be more scary because it’s such a big city, but I was close to school and it was super easy to get everywhere. There was a speaker from MAC Cosmetics a couple of days before I started, and my Admissions Director Jill Wyness suggested that I come to see that. The transition was so nice, and everyone was really helpful.”

The Blanche Macdonald Makeup Career office was a regular haunt for Paige, and Career Director Heather Sosa recalls her as being a true ‘go-getter’ from the get-go. Though she was thousands of kilometres away from her home, Paige knew that her Métis community was behind her all the way. This support provided inspiration to fill her already brimming double-bill schedule with volunteer and charity work.

“I wanted to do as much as I could while I was there to get the experience in,” she continues. “It’s true that you get out of your time at Blanche Macdonald what you put into it and you can’t just go out expecting to get famous. You have to volunteer, do free photoshoots.”

Though it is impossible for her to pick just one favourite moment from two courses full of memories, it was during the Nail Art finals in school that Paige found her passion set to shining.

“It was exciting, and I was inspired by how much you could do with it. I thought, I’ve got to try something crazy and see what I can do with all this stuff.

You can go wherever you want with this. You make your own schedule when you get out there, and just do different things every day!

“I try to figure out and think of things that other people haven’t done yet. I’m always trying to create new things and new techniques.”

This spark for experimentation and play has now become an emblem for Paige’s sensational designs, which have led her to establishing a community of followers on Instagram that grows each day.

“It’s fun! I’m really addicted to Instagram and meeting people on there. It helps me get clients. It definitely is a learning experience; I’ve come to realize that you have to put up high quality photos, and that people don’t like to see pictures of feet,” she laughs. “So don’t post up pedicures!”

With a supportive home in the Cutting Loose salon and a steady stream of fans eagerly awaiting each new nail art masterpiece, Paige is far from complacent in the success she has so far found. She is already striving to reach the next level.

“One of my goals this year is to do more makeup. I’ve been doing a lot of photoshoots for hairstylists entering competitions, and I’ve been doing more weddings and grads. This year I’m definitely focusing on that. I want to do more fashion too, and I’ve planned some photoshoots to enter Salon Magazine’s Contessa Awards and the Mirror Awards.”

There are no doubts that Paige will excel in these new ventures; her passion and constant drive for new challenges over which her creative mind can soar will keep her star rising.

“You can go wherever you want with this. You can do it in a salon, you can do freelance, you can do retail, do photoshoots. You can go anywhere and do a bit of everything. You make your own schedule when you get out there, and just do different things every day!”